Throughout
the last ice age Beringia was a mostly dry, arid, grassland steppe that allowed
it to be free of the glaciers that covered most of the Northern hemisphere and
provided a refuge for animals in the North. For 100,000 years it also helped
facilitate the movement of animals from North America into Asia and vice versa.
This movement of animals brought the camel and horse, both of which originated
in North America but eventually became extinct, into Asia. Conversely animals
such as the woolly mammoth and the steppe bison used the land bridge to leave
Asia and come into North America. Other animals living in Beringia at this time
included bears, wolves, lions, scimitar cats, woolly rhinos, giant beavers,
giant sloths and caribou.
The last ice
shields covering most of Canada were called the Laurentian and Cordilleran Ice
Shields and, as they melted and retreated further north, it opened up the
continent for animals and people that had crossed the land bridge (before it
once again was covered with water) to spread further south via the ice-free
corridor.
While some of the people followed the animals through the ice-free corridor at this time, others had already started heading south by following the coastline in primitive boats. Travelling along the outside edge of the Aleutian Islands and then down the coastline of North and South America they settled these areas 20,000 or more years before the ice-free corridor even opened up.
The people
that settled Middle America and South America (which eventually became the
Aztec, Maya and Inca civilizations) ended up living in societies that were
highly agrarian, focused on monumental architecture, and had a very
sophisticated, hierarchical governing structure, while the people of North
America lived more of a mixture of agricultural and hunter gatherer lifestyles.
Once the
ice-free corridor opened up, the expansion of people and animals into North
America was quite rapid and, as the people adapted to the surrounding
geography, unrestricted by national boundaries, six regional groups within
Canada began to emerge.
On the Northwest
Coast the Tlingit, Haida, Kwakiutl, Nuu-chah-nulth, Coast Salish and others
enjoyed an environment that was rich in natural resources, particularly salmon and
shellfish (for food) and cedar (for home construction, dug-out canoes, and artwork).
This abundance of resources allowed them to build permanent settlements and flourish,
becoming the most densely populated First Nations area in Canada. Of particular
significance were the colourful totem poles they carved and erected in front of
their homes and principal buildings.
In the
Plateau region the main nations were Interior Salish, the Kutenai, Chilcotin,
and Carrier. These people were more dependent on hunting and trapping in
addition to the annual salmon runs and they lived in permanent pit house encampments
in winter and temporary shelters the rest of the year in order to take
advantage of seasonal hunting and gathering. Travelling by snowshoe in winter
they used birch bark canoes in summer.
The
Subarctic region ranges across the country’s vast boreal forest and muskeg
swamps from the Bering Sea to the East Coast of Labrador and was occupied
principally by the Dene, Wood Cree, Ojibwa, and Chipewyan. Big game hunting
(moose, caribou, bear) trapping, and lake fishing provided food, clothing, and items
for trade. Following seasonal game and other resources, the people were
frequently on the move and living in portable shelters made of animal skins. In
order to get around they used snowshoes and toboggans in the winter and birch
bark canoes in the summer.
The Great Plains
people were primarily the Plains Cree, Assiniboine, and Blackfoot. They
followed the migrations of plains and wood bison, direct descendants of the
steppe bison who first came into North America more than 100,000 years ago, and
quickly became the most prominent large mammal species. The Great Plains people
lived in functional cone shaped tents called teepees that were perfect for
their nomadic lifestyle because they were easy to assemble and quick to take
down. Prior to the arrival of the horse, they used dogs to drag their travois
around, a type of A-shaped sled designed for carrying goods.
The Eastern
Woodlands people were in two principal groups, the Algonquin and the Iroquois.
Climate and soil conditions allowed them to grow corn, beans, and squash (the Three
Sisters) as their principal food source, which they complimented with fish and game. While the
Algonquin people led a semi-settled life, as they mostly depended on hunting and
fishing, the Iroquoian people lived in longhouses within permanent pallisaded
settlements. Both groups took advantage of the abundant waterways of the Great
Lakes region and St. Lawrence River to get around in birch bark canoes.
Approximately 4,000 years ago another group, the Dorset/Paleo-Eskimo, started to settle the Arctic, coming over from modern day Siberia and Alaska hunting seals and other animals near the sea ice and settling across the Arctic all the way to Newfoundland and Greenland. Around 2,500 years later they were gradually replaced by the Thule, a more technologically advanced people who also came from Siberia and Alaska and became the ancestors of the modern-day Inuit people. These hardy people lived mostly off sea mammal hunting, particularly seals but also polar bears and whales, which they hunted in kayaks. In winter they lived in homes fashioned from snow and ice and moved around in sleds pulled by dogs. In warmer months they lived in more portable shelters while hunting caribou, catching fish, and picking wild berries.
While the
various First Nations and Inuit people living in the six regions overlap in
some areas, the principal languages in each are Eskimoan in the Arctic,
Athapascan and Algonkian in the Subarctic and Great Plains, Algonkian and
Iroquoian in the Eastern Woodlands, Kootenayan and Salishan in the Plateau, and
Salishan, Tlingit, Tsimshian, Haida, and Wakashan, in the Northwest Coast.
For
thousands of years these original inhabitants lived by adapting to their
surroundings, developing agriculture, and trading with each other for items
they lacked. They also waged fierce war on one another. Estimates of the
population of Indigenous peoples in North and South America, by the time they
encountered Europeans, are up to 50 million with between 1-2 million living in what is now Canada.
North America was made up of a very complex and vibrant network of nations and communities whose stories and histories began long before Europeans made their way across the Atlantic Ocean. Relationships across North America were facilitated through kinship ties and extensive trading networks. With the arrival of Europeans this would in some cases be expanded and in others completely upended.